In these financially difficult times, maximizing the potential of facilities has become a key issue for the education sector. At the same time as delivering high quality education in line with modern expectations, schools need to ensure that their facilities generate their own revenue.

These are the reasons why one Australian primary school has invested in DiGiCo, opening up a new market for the console manufacturer.

Helensvale Primary, located on Queensland’s Gold Coast, recently finished a new performing arts centre, complete with a full audio-visual solution designed, supplied and installed by Dominica Sound via DiGiCo’s Australian distributor, Group Technologies.

“The school was previously hiring halls at its local arts centre for its events, but wanted to become self-contained in order to cut some of the operational overheads,” says Steve McCallum, director of Dominica Sound. “At the same time, they wanted to ensure that the space could accommodate a wide variety of events and be rented out to other schools - generating income while, at the same time, saving the other schools money.”

Measuring around 40m x 25m, with a stage at one end and elevated seating at the other, the 1100-capacity venue needed a high quality audio system and so a DiGiCo SD11 digital console was specified.

“We went with DiGiCo because it turned out to be a higher quality and more cost effective solution than anything else,” says Steve. “The sound quality of any other digital console wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good as the SD11, so it was a simple choice.”

Another big advantage of choosing the SD11 was the ability to configure the console for non-technical individuals, such as teachers and student AV operators from other schools.

“Helensvale holds a talent show at the end of every school day. The SD11 is setup with every input on every layer so anybody can walk in, clearly see which fader belongs to which input and begin using the desk. The teachers have commented on how easy it is to use. They just turn it on, select the inputs and then control volume, it’s that simple,” Steve continues.“Everyone loves the new system. One of the teachers has told me that they feel like they’ve won the lottery!”